


Rivers Hold Dreams

by theveryhassledwriter



Category: Castlevania, 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Alucard needs kisses, Alucard needs more love fight me, Botany/Horticulture, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Smut, includes a description of sexual violence/assault, mentions of rape/ noncon, purely self indulgent, starts after season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:20:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24949069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theveryhassledwriter/pseuds/theveryhassledwriter
Summary: After Taka and Sumi’s betrayal, Alucard isn’t looking for any company. But it might not be up to him. When a trip to a small river in the surrounding forest results in the discovery of a young woman, his life changes for the better.
Relationships: Adrian Tepes/Original Female Character, Alucard/Original Female Character, Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	1. Disarmed

_I’m running. I’m always running, aren’t I? The air burns in my lungs as my feet pound against the ground, scraping against the twigs and underbrush that litters the forest floor. I can hear him behind me. I won’t reach the water in time. But even if I did, there’s not much I can do, is there?_  
  
______________________  
  
The forest is soothing in its quietness as Alucard steps over branches. The only bad thing about quiet is it leaves room for his thoughts. Even now, a month later, Taka and Sumi’s faces burn in his memory. He wished there had been something he could have done. But they left him no choice.  
  
His fishing pole in hand, he follows the familiar path to the wide stream he usually fishes at. He’s just settled on his rock when a low, haunting, keening cry echoes from his left. Even from faraway he can tell whatever made it is in pain.  
  
Cautiously, a knife in hand, he starts toward the source of the sound. It’s stopped, petered out, but he got a good enough idea of where it came from. He stays close to the riverbank as he proceeds toward an outcropping of rocks in the middle of the water. At first, it’s hidden by a taller rock, but as he gets closer...  
  
He sees a crumpled, bare, human like form. One that looks very much like a woman.  
  
She’s gravely injured. There are deep gashes across her legs and torso, and one shallower cut across her throat. She’s still breathing, miraculously. Alucard knows he shouldn’t be doing this. There’s no guarantee that this isn’t a trap, and he should be more cautious, especially after Taka and Sumi.  
  
But she looks so harmless. She’s got dark hair, tangled and matted, and her lips, bruised and bloody as they are, seem soft and full. Something about her beauty, evident even through the blood and dirt, disarms him. And so he finds himself abandoning his quest for fish, and instead carries a naked woman with the prettiest face he’s ever seen with him back to the castle.  
  
He does what he can for her. He finds a spare room fairly close to his- not Taka or Sumi’s, he hasn’t gone in either of those rooms since they betrayed him- and peels back the covers. Trying his best to avoid staring at her bare body for too long, he cleans off what blood he can. She stays unconscious the whole time. Once he cleans her wounds, Alucard bandages them the way his books on medicine taught him, and digs out one of his shirts, gently pulling it over her head to cover her.  
  
By the time he leaves the room, she’s safely nestled under the covers, breathing more stable than before. He resolves to check on her before he goes to bed, and goes downstairs to make dinner- without fish.


	2. What’s Your Name

_I don’t see the tree’s roots until it’s too late and I’m tripping over them. I hit the ground hard, the rough bark scuffing my hands and knees. The fear pounds in time with my heart as I hear him getting closer. I consider pleading with the gods, but they’ve never heard me before- why would they now? Dread finally settles in as I see his shadow overtake mine._  
  
____________________________  
  
Serefina awakens in a strange place.  
  
She’s laying on an unfamiliar bed under unfamiliar blankets. And what is that on her body? Cloth that covers her torso, what looks like human clothes, but much too big for her- the sleeves flop over her hands. She winces as she stretches out her arms, the wounds wrapped in cloth stinging, and memories come flooding in. And then comes the fear.  
  
This must be the home of the man who’d hurt her. _I’m going to be taken and forced to be a wife, just like Mother._ And she starts to panic, and scrambles to get out of the bed, running to the window in spite of her pain. She beats against it weakly, knowing she’s not strong enough. So she tries to find a place to hide.  
  
A quiet “thunk” from upstairs catches Alucard’s attention as he’s finishing his meal. He sets down his wineglass and makes his way up the stairs, towards the room he’d put the girl in. He opens the door slowly, so as not to scare her...  
  
And finds an empty bed, the covers thrown back haphazardly.  
  
He walks in worriedly, looking for the girl. He doesn’t see her at first, but then the curtain by the window moves, rather conspicuously. He can see the outline of her figure in his shirt behind the fabric.  
  
“I can see you, you know.”  
  
She cautiously pokes out from behind the curtain, just enough to see him. And then, quick as a flash, she scrambles back into the corner, folded up as small as she can go. Alucard realizes she’s scared, not trying to hide from him for some ulterior motive. She’s shaking as he kneels down in front of her, keeping a safe distance so as not to scare her. “You’re safe now,” he says softly. “I’m not here to hurt you.”  
  
His voice is gentle, Ser decides, and she risks looking up to get a good look at him. Surprisingly, he’s not the man who hurt her- she would remember that face, dark haired and coarse and ugly. This man has long blonde hair, golden eyes, and a kind expression. She should know better than to speak to strange men, but he’s handsome and seems kind, and so she chances it.  
  
“Promise?”  
  
Alucard’s expression softens at her soft tone, and he smiles. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”  
  
She slowly uncurls from her defensive position, looking him in the eye. “I’m Alucard,” he says. “What’s your name?”  
  
“Serefina,” she replies softly. “Alucard,” she whispers to herself, as if testing out the syllables in her mouth. “Why am I here? What happened?”  
  
Alucard laughs quietly. “You’d have to tell me that. All I know is I found you badly injured down by the river. I brought you back and did what I could. Those wounds are pretty deep. Can I ask what caused them?”  
  
Ser doesn’t want to talk about it. So she waits, silent, until he guesses. When he suggests a wild animal, she nods, finding that a suitable excuse. That man was an animal to her, so it wasn’t too far from the truth.  
  
“Well, I’m sorry about the shirt. I know it’s probably too big. I think I might have some of my mother’s old clothes that would fit you. Or maybe some that Sypha left when she last visited.” Serefina nods silently, and follows him when he beckons.  
  
She ends up in a blue tunic and dark blue pants that are both a pretty good fit. Alucard says they belong to a woman named Sypha.  
  
“I can maybe run you a bath if you like? And please, stay until your wounds heal. I’d feel bad turning you out in your condition.” Alucard leads her to a room with a big bathtub in it, and starts to turn a knob. “It’ll take a second to come out. But the towels are over there, and there’s some soap over here.  
  
Serefina is distracted by the fluffy towels when she starts to hear the gurgle of running water. Her eyes light up as she turns, and she runs over to kneel by the bath tub. She leans over and scoops up a sphere of water, letting it dance over her fingers and reveling in the familiarity of it.  
  
Alucard stares at her. She can control water? Meaning she must be some sort of magician. He asks her, but given the look of confusion that crosses her face at the word magician tells him that’s not it. So instead he gestures vaguely at the water currently flowing in a ring around her hand. “How...how do you do that?”  
  
She knows it’s dangerous to tell him what she is, given what men do to her kind, but something tells her this man, this...Alucard, wouldn’t do that.  
  
“I’m a river nymph. The water is my home, my life.”  
  
A river nymph. Alucard has heard of them- beautiful women who can dissolve their bodies into water, change their faces to look like anyone, even manipulate and create water. But he’s never seen one. “Oh,” he breathes. Of course, he should have known. Serefina, her name, it’s close to the name of a river not far from here- The Serefine Carna. And given how scared she was of him- well, that was justified. Given their ability to look like anyone, nymphs were often sought after as wives and playthings. There were even underground markets where nymphs could be bought and sold like slaves. The poor girl.  
  
She continues playing with the water while the tub fills. He leaves so she can take a bath, and goes downstairs to read a book next to the garden he’d just barely gotten to grow in a little wooden box on a balcony.  
  
Serefina comes down about half an hour later, her dark hair damp and clean as she combs through it with her fingers. She’s wearing Sypha’s tunic and pants. Somehow she’s even prettier now, the late evening sunset casting a glow on her face and reflecting in her blue eyes.  
  
But he forces those thoughts down. He won’t be like those men who buy and sell nymphs for their beauty. He won’t view her like some pretty plaything.  
  
Her eyes light up when she sees the garden. She starts to speak, rattling off plant names faster than he can register what plant they belong to. She kneels by the garden, as fascinated as she was earlier with the water. She strokes their leaves almost reverently.  
  
“You like plants?” Alucard asks. Her face shines with enthusiasm as she nods. The wheels start turning in his head and he tells her to wait a moment.  
  
Alucard comes back with a small stack of books, each one about plants. She takes in the sight of them hungrily as he hands them to her, and immediately opens the first, poring over it.  
  
But then she stops, and closes the book. Serefina looks up at him, and he gets so distracted by her clear, blue eyes that he almost misses it when she says “Thank you.”  
  
“Thank you,” she continues, “For saving me. And for being so kind.”  
  
And damnit, he knows it’s too soon, but he wants to help her. To make her happy because it’s clear in her face that very few people have ever tried.  
  
“You know, I have some more books on plants, and...my mother had a greenhouse. I haven’t been able to make anything grow, but maybe you could. That is, if you stay. I-I mean, you could stay, if you want to. You don’t have to. But if you stay, even for a little while, I could teach you about plants, you could read all the books you want-“  
  
The expression on Ser’s face stops him.  
  
She’s looking up at him with such happiness, it makes him want to smile right back at her. Her smile, it’s so...radiant. Like even though the sun is setting, she’ll still shine. “I’d love that!” She says, a little loudly, and then, quieter, she says again:  
  
“Thank you, Alucard.”


	3. The Greenhouse

_His shadow looms over mine as he leans down, and I feel the dreadful burn of his hands on my skin, tearing the fabric of my clothes. My voice catches in my throat; I try to scream but all that comes out is a choked sob.  
  
It’s too late. _  
  
Serefina wakes after a particularly restless sleep.  
  
How strange, that she should have been so restless after falling asleep in such a...content mood. Alucard had walked her up to the room she was staying in, answering each question she had about plants and the greenhouse. He’d been so...kind. When she’d finally fallen asleep, she’d been happy and looking forward to the next morning, when Alucard said he would show her the greenhouse.  
  
So why then, did nightmares haunt her sleep? Visions of that rough, ugly man, his hands. She ends up tossing and turning all night.  
  
She doesn’t wake tired, though by all rights she should be. Instead she stretches- and winces, as she’s forgotten her wounds. They still sting, badly. Serefina reaches down to her bandage, and her fingers come away damp with blood.  
  
She walks over to the little porcelain basin, the one with a curious little silver implement above it that Alucard called a faucet. She turns the handle as he showed her, and water comes flowing out of the spout. Gently, she peels back the bandages on her stomach, taking a little soft cloth and dampening it under the flow of water. Ser slowly cleans the blood off of the gashes, wincing at the pain but keeping on nonetheless. Once she's sure they're clean, she grabs some new bandages and rewraps the wound the way Alucard showed her. Then she dresses in the clothes Alucard brought her.  
  
When she goes downstairs, she finds that Alucard is already awake. "I thought you might be hungry," he says by way of explanation as he hands her a plate of eggs. She thanks him and eats gratefully; it's been a while since she's had anything but fish and plants she'd foraged. He sits down across from her and eats his own breakfast, not speaking much. Strangely, the silence isn't awkward. It's...comfortable.  
  
When they've both eaten, Alucard offers to show her the greenhouse, and she accepts excitedly. He leads her through the castle and into a wing she hasn't seen. And then suddenly she sees a glass door at the end of the hallway, leading into a room made almost entirely of glass to let the sunlight in. She recognizes it as a greenhouse from the small one she'd had when she lived with her mother and her mother's...husband. She wouldn't call him her father, not ever.  
  
Alucard opens the door for her and lets her in, and her eyes widen in wonder. The flower-bed tables are empty, yes, but already her imagination is running wild, making plants appear filling each bed, spilling over and filling the space with green.  
  
Alucard can't help smiling down at her, pink faintly dusting his pale cheeks. He wonders how someone who's likely been hurt so many times can smile so hopefully, so beautifully. How her eyes can hold such wonder, and how she can look at a monster like him as if he's the most beautiful person in the world.  
  
He shakes his head discreetly as if dismissing his thoughts and leads her to a small cabinet. "I know there's not much growing- all the plants died- but this is where my mother kept the seeds for each plant. There's a couple kinds in there she never got around to planting. You're welcome to use any kind you wish."  
  
Serefina opens the little wooden cabinet to find rows of jars full of seeds, each neatly labeled in impeccable handwriting. Most of the plants listed are medicinal.  
  
She turns to Alucard again. It puzzles her why this makes her so happy. And then it hits her- she's never been free to do as she wished, she's never been treated so kindly even by her own mother. So on impulse, she hugs him. "Thank you," she whispers. She feels she's been saying that a lot.  
  
She immediately starts planting, going through the seeds and deciding which ones to plant. Alucard wants to read a book, but he wants to be here with her because there's something about seeing her happy after seeing her terrified of him that makes his heart flutter. So he goes off to grab a book and settles in a chair in the corner of the greenhouse. By the time he's returned, she's completely focused. Her sleeves are rolled up past her elbows and her hands are in the dirt, planting seeds and watering them with a flick of her hands.  
  
She finishes planting the flowerbeds with care, whispering encouragement to each seed in a way that makes Alucard smile. He's probably smiled more in two days than he has in the month since Taka and Sumi's deaths. What is it about Serefina that makes him so happy?  
  
Once she's finished the beds, Ser comes over to him shyly with a small flowerpot in hand. "W-Would you like to see something?"  
  
"Er...go on," he says. She sets the flowerpot down in front of him and kneels in front of it. Her hands settle themselves deep in the soil, and her brow furrows from concentration. He watches her, curious, but soon finds he should have been watching the flowerpot.  
  
With her effort, plants have sprouted immediately from the soil, pushing upwards with incredible speed. They're plants he's seen in the forest- he recognizes a small river rush, a growing berry bush, and some other varying sprouts and mosses that pad the riverbanks. Alucard is blown away- this girl just grew plants in front of him that even now look at least a few months old. He gets up from his seat to crouch near the pot and strokes the leaves of a plant.  
  
"I can't control what kind of plants they are; that's why I didn't do this for the flowerbeds. It seems that I can only grow plants that grow near the river." She says, looking down as if she's embarrassed to look at him. Alucard looks over at her. "Are you joking? This is incredible!" Her eyes meet his, startled by his enthusiasm. The wheels start spinning in Alucard's head.  
  
"Actually...do you think if the seed is already present in the soil, you'd be able to grow the seeds? I mean, I don't know too much about your magic, but I've read books on magic and it seems like what you just did is a combination of infusing life and time acceleration. So I wonder if time acceleration would work on the seeds." Serefina stares at him as he crosses the room to grab another flowerpot and a random jar of seeds. He hands them to her excitedly; and then he slows, realizing he's coming off a bit pushy. "Erm, would you mind? Trying, I mean. Sorry to be so sudden." She giggles quietly at his sudden shyness. "I can try, but there's no guarantee it'll work," Serefina says, already pushing a seed down into the soil and covering it with care. She gives it a little water first, and then, with Alucard watching her hands closely, she places them in the soil. Her brow furrows again, even more concentrated now, and she grits her teeth with the effort. For some reason, her magic doesn't want to catch on the seed; it wants to run wild, grow what _it_ wants. But she forces it, tries to control it, and then she feels something click.  
  
She watches the soil closely.  
  
And a little green shoot pops out, spiraling upwards, startling her. As little green unripe fruits start to form, she recognizes it as a tomato plant. She pushes harder, and the plant grows even more, the unripe tomatoes starting to grow bigger and redden. Alucard looks on in wonder, reaching out to touch the leaves. As he does, the magic shifts, and she loses the connection; the plant stops growing. But there's at least one tomato ready for picking.  
  
Alucard seems to realize he's done something to stop the connection, and he apologizes, but she waves him off. "It's fine, really. You were the one who gave me the idea, after all." She smiles at him again, and it does the same thing to him, that feeling he can't fathom.  
  
Ser gently twists the stem holding the ripe tomato and breaks it, handing it to Alucard. "There'll be more in a few days or so. Maybe you can make something with them?" She can't explain why she wants to please him so much. Maybe it's just his kindness?  
  
She spends another two hours or so convincing the other seeds to sprout the way she convinced the tomato plant. She doesn't want them to grow too much though; there's pride to be had knowing you've grown something yourself. By the end she's got little green shoots in each flower bed.  
  
Alucard makes dinner for them, and they eat together again. This time, when he sits down, he's got a letter in hand. When he opens it, he smiles. "What is it?" Ser asks cautiously- she doesn't want to be nosy, but she's curious. Luckily, Alucard doesn't seem to be offended. "A letter from Sypha and Trevor," he says. "My...friends. They'll be visiting soon. Hopefully you'll get to meet them." Serefina brightens at that possibility- she'd like to meet Alucard's friends.  
  
"Will you tell me about them?"  
  
Alucard seems confused, until she adds, "Trevor and Sypha, I mean." Alucard smiles and agrees.  
  
"Trevor, well. Trevor can be difficult. He's gruff, and rude, and uncivilized. But...he's helped me many times, for no reason. So I consider him a friend." Alucard laughs softly. "He swills beer more often than water, truly. I'm not sure how he hasn't died of dehydration by now."  
  
"And Sypha, of course. Sypha Belnades. She's a Speaker Magician. I'm sure she'll be glad to meet you, since you can use magic as well. She's headstrong, and stubborn, and maybe one of the smartest people I know."  
  
She laughs at the stories of Trevor. But strangely, every time he mentions Sypha, her stomach tightens. Is she his lover? Does he miss her because they're in love?  
  
In a small voice she asks, "Are you and Sypha...er, in love?" Almost immediately she curses herself for asking. It's none of her business, and why does she care anyway?  
  
Still, something in her is relieved at his response. "Sypha? Oh, no! She's just a friend. I'm actually quite sure she's together with Trevor. At least, the way she talks about him in her letters makes me think so."  
  
He tells her more stories of his friends, the way they defeated Dracula as well as drunken bar stories. She laughs at each one now, no longer wilting at the mention of Sypha. When she goes to bed that night, she truly does look forward to meeting Trevor and Sypha. After all, Alucard says Sypha will be able to help her find some clothes that truly fit. Why that matters to her, she does not know- she's not vain, but she feels silly wearing someone else's clothes. This next night of sleep isn't restless, for some reason. Instead she sleeps peacefully. 


	4. A Surprise

  
_His sweaty form slumps against my bruised one, and I see the time to act- now, before he takes me away to be a broodwife like mother. I start trying to struggle out, but he notices. He yanks me back by the hair, and I kick at him, trying to get away. He yells for me to stop, but I won't. I don't see him reach for a rock until it's too late._  
  
___________  
  
The days have passed so fast for Serefina. Her wounds are almost healed, and she's spent nearly every day of the past week in the greenhouse, encouraging her new plants to grow. But there's one bed left unused, and Ser has an idea. An idea that, hopefully, will make Alucard smile- which is something she loves to see already, even after just a week. So she digs through the jars of seeds until she finds the ones she needs, and rolls up her sleeves, getting to work.  
  
Alucard wakes up a little later than normal; the sun streaming through the stiff velvet curtains' opening wakes him. He stretches and readies himself to go downstairs to cook breakfast. It startles him when he realizes he's thinking of what to make for Mila, considering how she likes her eggs cooked.  
  
Usually, she doesn't come down til about an hour after he wakes up; she needs the sleep, so he doesn't find it strange. Though he's woken a bit later, so she'll maybe be down in half an hour. He starts thinking about breakfast again, but then he stops, because as he passes the greenhouse, he hears a beautiful voice.  
  
_Should this be, the last thing I see  
I want you to know it's enough for me  
For all that you are is all That I'll ever need_  
  
He peeks into the doorway to see Serefina, already dressed in some old dress Sypha bought once and then left here, the sleeves rolled up as she bends over a flowerbed. She sways and spins gently to the tune of her song; she's singing absently, so the words must be familiar to her. She keeps singing, clear and sweet as the river where he found her.  
  
_You look so beautiful in this light  
Your silhouette over me  
The way it brings out the blue in your eyes  
Like the Tenerife Sea _  
  
"Good morning," Alucard says. He says it quietly, but she still jumps, and then she turns abruptly and tries to hide the bed from him. "No, no, you can't look yet! It'll be ready in an hour or so, I promise!" She says, sounding panicked. He narrows his eyes, wondering what she's doing, but he likes to think she wouldn't harm him, so he lets it slide. "Alright, then. I'll go make breakfast."  
  
Ser nods and waits til he's turned around to get back to work. But she stiffens when she hears him say something as he walks away.  
  
"You've...got a pretty singing voice, you know."  
  
_________________  
  
While Alucard busies himself making breakfast, Ser returns to her work. And when she's sure Alucard is out of earshot, she picks up her song again, though she hums this time.  
  
From the cabinet of seeds she had picked out every single plant she could find that was meant for cooking. Tomatoes, peas, carrots, lettuce, herbs of every kind, and even some peppers and fruits. She'd spent a half hour laying out plots within the massive garden bed- the bed itself spanned the whole back wall of the greenhouse, which was why she hadn't planted anything; the task seemed so daunting. Meaning the plots were fairly well sized. She then spent another hour meticulously planting each seed and watering it. Now came the most difficult task.  
  
It wouldn't be very impressive to present Alucard with a garden that hadn't sprouted yet, so she's decided to use the powers Alucard suggested to grow each plant to maturity- or at least a few days within maturity, so they'd be ready by the time he'd told Ser that Sypha and Trevor would be here.  
  
She starts with the tomatoes- the plant she'd grown the first time Alucard convinced her to try it. She's been practicing that same power on the other tomato plant, and it's yielded about five tomatoes, which Alucard was happy to use. She digs her fingers into the soil, carefully avoiding the seeds she's placed, and tries to coax her power into catching on the tomato seeds.  
  
A faint green light emanates from her fingertips as she murmurs encouragingly to the plants. Sure enough, something clicks, and little green sprouts poke out of the dirt. She keeps her focus with some effort, and they spiral upwards, attaching themselves to the tiny wooden trellis poles she's placed. Little green tomatoes start forming, and then they start to swell and redden.  
  
Each plant requires coaxing, and the different types of plants radiate different energies and shades of green light, but within an hour, they're all ready.  
  
Serefina rushes out of the greenhouse and down the castle hallways, skidding to a stop before the kitchen. She sees Alucard and starts to bounce on her toes excitedly. "Alucard? It's ready!"  
  
Before he can respond, she's taken his hand and is pulling him down the hallways, surprisingly fast for an injured person. When they reach the greenhouse, she opens the door and tells him to close his eyes.  
  
He stops for a moment. Given what happened with Taka and Sumi...he's not sure he wants to. He doesn't want that to happen again.  
  
But then she looks up at him with the sweetest smile and the most excitement-filled eyes, and grasps his hand softly. "I promise I'll make sure you don't bump into anything."  
  
He relents, and lets her, though it's hard not to keep one eye open.  
  
True to her word, she carefully leads him around the garden beds, and then she stops, and whispers, "Open your eyes."  
  
He opens them to see a garden bed filled with vegetables and herbs and even some fruits, all fully grown. Alucard's eyes widen, and he turns to look at Ser. "You...you did this? With your magic?" She nods proudly. "I thought you'd like having things to cook with.  
  
He can't explain the instinct to do so, at least not with any rational reasoning. But he follows his urges, leans down, and embraces her tightly, all the while trying to rationalize this feeling. It's just...been a while since someone's been this kind to him! That's all it is.  
  
She freezes in his embrace, and he realizes how profoundly uncomfortable he must have made her. But then, before he can do anything, he feels a soft hand on his arm, gently returning his embrace.  
  
When he first hugged her, Ser had been terrified. The last time she'd been caught in a man's arms, it had not ended well.  
  
But Alucard was gentle with her; he didn't squeeze her, and she could easily slip out of his embrace. And beyond that, the kindness he'd shown her, the fact that he'd healed her and taken care of her instead of taking advantage of her when she was unconscious...she doesn't know when it happened, but...  
  
She trusts him.  
  
And that's a scary thing to acknowledge, given her history. Not once has she ever been able to trust anyone for long; betrayal always follows soon after. But with Alucard, she feels like...even if betrayal does come, she'll take what she can get for now.  
  
Alucard, for his part, is surprised. He'd expected her to flinch away, given that she barely knows him. But the gentle press of her small hands on his upper arms, returning his embrace, it...warms his heart. And not just his heart, but his face, too; he can feel his cheeks turning pink.  
  
"Thank you," he says quietly when he pulls away. She just smiles at him and grabs a basket from the table. "Should we get some veggies, then?"  
  
"That sounds lovely," he responds, and he takes the basket when she hands it to him. They spend the morning picking veggies, and he's feeling happier than he's been in a while. 


	5. Cooking Lessons

This morning, Alucard opens a letter as he enjoys breakfast with Ser. He recognizes Sypha's neat handwriting on the paper, and he eagerly scans the letter.  
  
"Good news," he says to Serefina, whose mouth is full of fruit she's grown for him. "Hmm?" she responds, not able to say much else.  
  
"Sypha sent this from a town not far from here, about three days away, saying she was on her way. From the date on the letter, she should be here tomorrow."  
  
Ser swallows the fruit in her mouth and remarks "That's earlier than expected, right?" Alucard nods.  
  
He starts clearing dishes once Serefina sets her fork down. He expects her to get up and go to the greenhouse for a few hours, as she's been doing this past week. He usually visits her before lunch and helps her gather the vegetables of the day. But she stays, and he feels her presence, hears her heartbeat quicken as she stands behind him. He knows she's fidgeting nervously even though he's facing the other way. Alucard wants to ask her what she needs, but he waits to let her speak for herself.  
  
"Alucard?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Could you maybe...could you maybe teach me to cook?"  
  
Her request surprises him; she's always commented on how good his cooking is, but never expressed an interest in it beyond that. But he agrees, and he can feel her relax behind him. He turns and gets his first real look at her this morning, and loses the "of course" he'd had waiting on the tip of his tongue.  
  
The light from the morning sun streams through the window and lights her blue eyes til they seem the color of ice. Her lips are parted to let out a breath of anticipation, soft and full and slightly red from her biting them constantly. Her hair is left loose this morning, and as the sun shines on it, he realizes it isn't as dark as he thought- rather, it’s a lighter, chocolaty brown that reflects the light beautifully. She watches him shyly, wringing her hands discreetly. She's wearing one of his mother's old dresses, one that's a little big on her frame; it's one of the few his father kept.  
  
She is beautiful.  
  
And now he understands the draw he has to her, the pang that goes through his heart when he smiles at her. But as he shakes it off, says "Of course I can teach you," he pushes the realization down. He'll deal with the implications of _that_ later.  
  
Mila brightens immediately, and it almost makes him stop again. Instead, though, he turns to grab a pan. "How about I teach you to make eggs first? They're easy."  
  
She agrees, and comes to stand by his side. He knows for a fact she doesn't wear perfume, or use any scented soap; he would have noticed before now. So why, now that she's standing so close by him, can he smell fresh herbs? Lavender, and basil, and thyme. Fresh, green things, like the plants she spends her days around.  
  
\------------------  
  
Ser nearly chokes when he turns and stares at her. Something is in his eyes that she doesn't recognize, something soft. As she watches his face, waiting for him to respond, she realizes why she's feeling such fondness just staring at him, and misses his statement; something about "of course."  
  
Oh gods, no. She can't. She can't go around having silly crushes on kind people who've rescued her. It's dangerous, it's stupid...and it feels nice.  
  
The warmth in her heart is nice. She's only felt it once before, staring at the maid at her mother's house who smiled at her while she stoked the fires. The one who helped her get out of the house when she was 13 and that man beat her mother. She had pretty eyes, and caramel hair, and she'd stroked Serefina’s cheek before sending her off.  
  
She snaps out of her reverie, blushing, when Alucard starts to speak. "How about I teach you to make eggs first? They're easy."  
  
She nods shakily and goes to stand by him. He's so close to her. Alucard hands her an egg, and then his hand curls around hers, showing her how to hold it to crack the egg. She freezes like a doe before a hunter for a moment, then tries to loosen up. She almost drops the egg, but manages to crack it, rather clumsily, against the wooden counter. She pours the egg into the pan the way he shows her, and he turns a strange knob. Fire springs to life briefly under the stovetop, and she jumps back. He chuckles quietly and catches her, placing a hand on the small of her back that sends a bolt of lightning through her like a thunderstorm. Shakily, she sets the pan down over the rings of iron above the small flames, and the egg starts to sizzle.  
  
  
Things are going well; she's about to flip the second egg. But then her hand brushes against the iron pan, stays for a second too long, and she yelps. Jumping back from the stove, she cradles her now burnt hand.  
  
Alucard is on her in a moment, gently taking her burnt hand and turning it over to examine the burn. There it is, an angry red patch across the back of her hand and her knuckles. He leads her over to the copper sink and turns on the faucet, letting cool water flow over her hand. Ser relaxes, but only a bit; yes, the cool water soothes her burn, but does nothing to prevent the racing heart that is a side effect of Alucard holding her hand so gently. He's so careful with her, making sure not to hold too tight, and it makes her heart flutter. "Careful," he says. "The pans are hot, you shouldn't touch them."  
  
She knows this. She wants to tell him that she knows this. But instead her words freeze in her throat, and she can only nod. Once the burn is no longer so red, Alucard turns off the faucet and gently runs his thumb over the inflamed skin. "Better?" She nods.  
  
  
By this time, the egg is burnt, and Alucard scrapes it out of the pan into a wastebasket. She feels bad that a whole egg has been wasted because she couldn't not touch hot pans, but Alucard assures her it's fine, and asks her if she needs anything else for the burn.  
  
"Oh, I-I can get it, th-thank you. I have some herbs I can put on it, if you don't mind?" Of course he doesn't, so Alucard leads the way to the greenhouse, Serefina trailing behind him.  
  
When they reach the greenhouse, Ser busies herself grabbing the herbs she needs. She reminds Alucard of a butterfly, deep blue skirts swishing as she flits from plant to plant, gathering leaves and stems and flowers. From the cabinet, she takes a mortar and pestle and a roll of bandages. One by one she adds the herbs into the little marble bowl, crushing them with the pestle before letting some water drip from her fingertips into the bowl and crushing them again. Once she's finished, she scoops up a little bit of the sticky mixture and pats it onto her burn, continuing until the burn is completely covered in a thick layer. She grabs the roll of bandages and wraps her hand tightly to keep the herb mixture in place, tying it neatly and tearing the fabric with her teeth. She's so quick about it, familiar with it in a way that suggests she's done it a thousand times. Foolishly, Alucard hopes she hasn't. He wishes this sweet girl in front of him in his mother's dress, eyes a little less sad than they used to be, has never been hurt in her life. But deep down he knows it isn't true.  
  
They give up cooking for the day, and instead Alucard asks her to teach him something. To teach him the way she knew what herbs to use in a heartbeat. By lunchtime his head is swimming with plant names and uses and pretty girls handing him flowers with shy smiles like it's nothing.  
  
He wishes it wasn't. But of course it is, they're for the medicine. What else would they be for?  
  
After lunch, they retreat to the library the way they normally do. Ser carries a massive pile of books and sets them down on the table next to her usual chair; the stack is so big it nearly obstructs the sunlight from reaching her. She's quiet when she reads, poring over the book and mouthing the words to herself occasionally. Her hair, which she had pulled back into a loose braid before opening the first book, is slowly escaping its bounds, brushing her cheeks and framing her face.  
  
By dinner time, she's managed to complete the stack, and she shelves them with care, running her fingertips along the spines of books on the shelf as she finds the right place for each book. Alucard stands up to go the kitchen, to start making dinner, and she follows, head still partially in the clouds.  
  
She doesn't try to help him cook this time, but she cleans the dishes as he finishes with using them, and she sets the table, pouring each of their drinks- red wine for him, and clear water for her. She doesn't drink wine often, Alucard has noticed over these past few weeks. She only really drinks it after dinner, but only if he's having some as well, and only when she's curled up in a chair on the balcony of the sitting room reading. She comes down each night after she readies herself for bed, two or three books with her, and she sits out there until the sun has long set behind her and the stars are shining. The moonlight always makes her look ethereal; Alucard knows, because he sits inside and steals glances at her while he reads. He hasn't yet joined her, since he's loathe to disturb her. She always looks so peaceful, reading there in her nightgown. When she finally goes upstairs, yawning, he misses the sound of her breathing or quietly humming to herself; misses her very presence.  
  
Tonight dinner is a little quiet at first. Alucard really isn't sure what to say to her. But thankfully she asks about Trevor and Sypha again, and the conversation picks up. She giggles at his horrible impression of his friends, and when she accidentally snorts from laughing too hard, he laughs too, and by the time they calm down enough to eat without laughing, it's been nearly ten minutes.  
  
After dinner, Ser heads upstairs for a bath. She takes them often, since she doesn't need to use the faucets to fill the tub with hot water; she can do it with a few flicks of her hand. She strips her dress and chemise off and sinks into the steaming water, sighing with relief.  
  
Her thoughts start to wander as she scrubs the day off of her skin. Wandering to a certain handsome, blond dhampir that was just downstairs (unbeknownst to her, waiting for her to reappear so he could sit with her.) As she leans back to let her hair get wet, and as she works soapy fingers through her hair, she thinks about him. She thinks about being near him, his kindness, meeting his friends. She thinks about how he looked at her this morning, like she was the sunrise, like for once in her life she was beautiful without the promise of sex.  
  
And with that thought, she thinks about how it would feel to kiss him.  
  
And then she shakes those thoughts away; she's his guest, someone he found gravely injured, not his lover. She mustn't mistake his kindness for feelings for her.  
  
Once she's clean, she steps out of the tub and dries off, pulling out the little stopper that Alucard showed her to drain the tub. Once her skin is just barely damp and still warm from the bath, she slips on a nightshirt that Alucard lent her. It's far too big for her smaller frame, and reaches nearly to midcalf whereas on him it would reach to his knees. She towels her hair off roughly to dry it and runs her fingers through it once it's dry enough, working out the tangles. It's already starting to curl at the ends.  
  
She's not surprised to see him sitting in the library when she goes to find a book, but she is surprised when, after a few minutes of reading inside, he comes out to the balcony and asks if he can join her. He holds two glasses of wine, and she accepts one timidly, saying "Of course you can," so softly he almost doesn't hear it.  
  
He takes the seat across from her, trying desperately not to think about how she's _wearing his shirt_ , the sleeves rolled up almost three times so they don't flop over her wrists. They read there together, not saying much. Alucard still steals glances at her; from this angle, the light of the sunset is even more beautiful on her. And as the sun sets, gives way to the moon and the stars, he slowly loses his breath, because every time he looks at her she's prettier, and he can only think of hearing her sing and the way she looked at him earlier and the smile she'd given him with the flowers and gods, he wants to...  
  
He wants to kiss her. But he can't. He won't be the kind of man she's dealt with her whole life, he won't take advantage of her like that. He can't think that just because she's kind to him that she feels the same stupid crush he does.  
  
But even knowing that, he still feels lonely when she leaves to go to bed with a soft goodnight, the stars shining on her back as she walks away. 


End file.
